Hiking in Western North Carolina

The mountain region of Western North Carolina is a haven for outdoor recreation enthusiasts.

Some of the highest peaks in the East, surrounded by vast areas of wilderness and miles and miles of trails, invite visitors from all over the world. But even locals looking for an easy day hike find the area irresistible.

Why take an expensive vacation thousands of miles away when a world-renowned outdoor playground is right next door?

HikeWNC.info is your on-line hiking guide for North Carolina's Appalachian mountain region, containing all of the information you need to make your next trip complete. We aim to provide guidebook quality information that you can use in your outdoor persuits. Have fun browsing and hiking!

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On This Site

The Trails section of our site is the gateway to information about individual trails in Western North Carolina. Search for a trail by name; each trail has its own page with all the details, a map (where available), and a place to leave ratings and comments.

Your guide to the Best Hikes in Western North Carolina, combining individual trails into a fully guided experience. We feel like these trips are most representative of the great hiking that Western North Carolina has to offer!

This section covers all of the maps we have available for you to view, download, and purchase, including maps of the Trailheads and Best Hikes above, and interactive Google Maps with downloadable GPS data.

Get general area information to round out your trip, including things to consider when planning a hike, information about places to stay and outfitters, and ways to get involved in the area's hiking community.

Site Updates & News

In a post last week, I shared some small “discoveries” my family and I made while hiking in the Shope Creek section of Pisgah National Forest near the Riceville community east of Asheville. Ever since that hike, I couldn’t stop thinking about going back (with my real camera) and getting Read more »

Saturday, I found myself on one of those hikes that has no preparation, no particular destination, nor even an expectation of what I might like to find. I took the family out to the Shope Creek section of Pisgah National Forest, only hoping to get a little exercise and enjoy Read more »

I’d heard about some new trails on a Buncombe County property that I wanted to check out. So January 4, 2015, when I got the opportunity, I headed out there with the family. What we found was a nice little trail network perfect for exercise trips when you don’t have Read more »

Throughout the last few years, hiking opportunities in the Hickory Nut Gorge area southeast of Asheville, NC have slowly been expanding. While locals have been hiking in the area for decades, there haven’t been a lot of publicly sanctioned trails, except for the few inside the privately owned Chimney Rock Park. Read more »

We’re happy to announce that our new WNC Waterfalls App for Android phones and tablets is ready for download! Starting today, you can visit 50 of the area’s popular waterfalls using this guide on your Android device. It’s packed with the same information we provide here on the web – but with no data connection needed after installation. Photos are provided Read more »

Most of the trails and roads which were closed for the Brushy Ridge logging project have reopened today, according to the National Forests in NC. The roads and trails were closed while logging took place in the area, and while some work remains, it looks like the active work area Read more »

Western North Carolina is about to have yet another trail system for mountain biking at one of its beautiful mountain destinations! Lake James State Park will soon be open to bikes with 15 miles of new multi-use trail on the north side of the lake, which are in the park’s Paddy’s Creek Read more »